Want to Taste Johnnie Walker’s Most Expensive Blend? Head to Shanghai

“In the last 200 years, there have been fewer Johnnie Walker master blenders than British monarchs,” reports the WSJ’s Peter Evans today. And while the brand goes back to the 1800s, the man currently occupying Scotch whisky’s highest throne is monetizing his sense for a fine blend in very 21st Century ways.

Jim Beveridge, Johnnie Walker’s current master blender, is churning out custom blends for the hyper rich, who pay upwards of $130,000 a case for a special blend made only for them. And the action is in Asia, the WSJ reports:

The bespoke blending service Mr. Beveridge oversees—offered by Diageo at invitation-only Johnnie Walker emporiums in Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul—aims to tap into this demand. The company says it has produced only 10 signature blends since 2011. A bottle costs at least $6,500—often much more—with a minimum order of 20 bottles.

The demands from clients can be extreme. One customer plans to build a library full of whisky and ordered each bottle to be individually packaged to look like a book. Some clients have simpler requests, such as a smoky flavor or label designed around a family crest.

But as profitable as it may be, selling Scotch to the 1% is still small fry compared to selling it to everyone else in the world. In 2013, $7.2 billion worth of Scotch whisky was exported, making up almost a quarter of all the food and drink exported from Britain. More on this after the jump…